Florida Home Mortgage Rates Inch Downward

Rates on 30-year Florida mortgages barely moved in the past week, inching down to 6.68 percent from 6.69 percent, according to a weekly Freddie Mac survey.
All other mortgage rates slipped as well, with the one-year adjustable rate mortgage taking the biggest drop, to 5.59 percent from 5.69 percent.

Average rates on 15-year Florida mortgage products - popular for Florida refinance seekers - fell to 6.32 percent from 6.37 percent.

And the “5/1″ ARM, set at a fixed rate for five years and adjustable each following year, averaged 6.29 percent, compared to last week’s 6.30.

Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac V.P. and chief economist, attributed the subtle shift to the bad credit mortgage crisis, which sent many investors buying Treasury securities and pushing down bond yields this week.

Florida mortgage rates and bond yields are linked, experts believe.

Nothaft also said (somewhat surprisingly to many observers) that there are signs the housing market is close to stabilizing.

“As construction spending levels off, the drag on GDP growth will continue to diminish. Meanwhile, the 5 percent rise in pending home sales in June suggests that sales in July and August may reverse last month’s decline,” he said.

On Wednesday, the National Association of Realtors reported that in June pending sales of previously owned homes rose at their fastest pace in three years.

Even with the downward nudge this week, Florida mortgage rates on 30-year home loans were above their year-ago level of 6.63 percent.

At the same time last year, the 15-year loan was 6.27 percent, as was the “5/1″ ARM. At the same time, mortgage rates on the one-year ARM averaged 5.69 percent.

Freddie Mac said that a Florida mortgage lender charged an average of 0.3 percent in fees and points, down from 0.4 percent last week, and 0.5 percent on hybrid mortgages, both unchanged.

SOURCE: Reuters